Waydough

JasonG: Thanks, I did a quick and dirty add of a few photo based on your help. You should write instruction manuals for computer software companies.

PCG: what if I just post a photo of the fat chipmunk hanging by it's teeth from my friend's thumb in place of the words of that comment? I have not yet figured out how to embed a photo in the words of a report, so I guess that won't happen. The photo says it all :-)

PCG: thanks for your comment. I'm glad it was useful info (that was my intent).

Alex: does it seem like a trip report now? I get on CC's.com most often when I am checking out current conditions and new route info for climbs I am planning for. I posted the info to provide a tidbit of info about the current conditions of the PT that may encourage others to go on it this year. I do not often contribute in a way that benefits other users of this web site, so I thought I'd try to do so once in a while. I'll keep my trip "notes" off of my trip reports for now on.

Trip: North Cascades (WA) - Ptarmigan Traverse: north half Date: 8/21/2011 Trip Report: Conditions update from our August 18 – 21 trip: For those interested in a late-season Ptarmigan Traverse trip there is still plenty of time to do it this year. It’s nice to have a chance to go from couch-potato to good shape earlyMay-earlyAugust to carry a large climbing pack deep into the rugged Cascades at the end of August. Right now the snow and glacier conditions are still very good (firm and deep, ascent to Red Ledge’s is good, descent down Spider/Formidable col is good, islands of snow patches to cross frequently are of the non-postholing type, glaciers are just now starting to crevasse up). We cramponned up a lot since even stiff boots could cut/punch only 3-4 inches into the snow with two or three kicks. It’s a good time to travel fast on foot on the PT. We climbed LeConte (E/NE face up the snow and onto the ridge: snow covers large parts of the scramble route so you have to get creative up high and go onto a knife ridge) and Old Guard (we made a mistake on route choice and after failed attempts from the NE we headed home under the north face and saw a 200-foot 45-degree couloir to a notch with Sentinel and then ascended easy fun 3rd class rock to the summit). Neither Old Guard or LeConte had summit registers that we could find, which surprised us. Notes to those interested in my notes from this trip for my next trip (and a useless rant about chipmunk feeding that reveals my hypocracy since I’m guilty of feeding camp robbers with great joy): 1.)We left helmets behind out of the interest of going lighter and having less crap jiggling on our packs (or taking up volume that could be filled by very large cucumbers and booze and such inside). In retrospect I wish we would have brought and frequently worn helmets on steep traverses where a slip would mean a fast slide into talus field. Also, on the traverse in a couple of locations and while ascendiing LeConte, we had some party-inflicted rockfall that could have resulted in a bad head injury that a helmet may have prevented. 2.) Going north to exit the PT gave me a new appreciation for doing steep descending traverses with large packs. Getting off the Red Ledges was sketchy without using rope/picket protection however going up them two days before was a snap. Doing a descending a steep, hard, dirt 120-foot section on the “trail” between the Cache Glacier and Cascade Pass was the most treacherous part of the trip (no chance to arrest a slip and very bad run-out). 3.) To all the Disney-brainwashed fans that see wildlife as cute little cuddly creatures that are pet /child-like and in need of feeding to show friendship and camaraderie with wild things: please stop feeding Alvin, Simon, and Theodore! Regardless of your deep desire to carry less food weight that big friggen fat chipmunk at Cascade Pass does not need another 11 almonds, 3 Gummy Bears, 6 Wheat Thins, and the tip of your finger (yes, they are carnivorous when provoked, which means if you start to feed her and stop before here extra-large belly and jowls are full she will attack and take a piece of you to her winter stash – ask Jill from our group). Just think of it this way if you have any interest in a chipmunk’s well-being: making her bigger, tastier, and an easier meal for Mr. Badass Golden Eagle does not improve her life one tiny bit. 4.) Take great friends with you. It’s likely you’ll get tired from hiking and succumb to the desire to just relax at a camp site longer than your super-summit-fever-repeat-the-original-Ptarmigan-Trip plan calls for. This North Cascade alpine region is amazing with stunning scenery everywhere you look and roam from Cub Lake north to the Cascade Pass trailhead. 5.) Consider camping away from other groups, both for your mountain peace as well as for theirs. There are LOTS of great places to camp on dirt or rock along the way with running or pooled clear water nearby. 6.) Bring easy to install crampons that you are proficient at installing/removing. Most people will end up installing crampons multiple times each day due to changing surface conditions from heather-cut dirt trails to hard steep snow to talus fields to glaciers. Using steel crampons will make you less concerned about wearing them on talus to get from one patch of steep hard snow to the next = saving time and effort. I generally wear my nice lightweight Grivel Air-Tech aluminum crampons and cringed a bit during several rocky/unstable walking on rocks and the points are a good 1/8” worn off from this trip. Oh, and each of the many crampon install/removal stops lead to second and third and fourth breakfast. As a result you will move more slowly than expected and gain weight on this trip. 7.) Regarding experience level of climbers attempting this route: Be good at steep snow travel while wearing a heavy pack before going on this traverse. This is not a beginner’s trip to learn how to ice axe arrest, wear crampons for the first time, or to learn how to travel on steep snow. My partners did well and had mountain climbing experience but I still should have been more considerate of a few team member’s steep snow expertise/comfort. It would have been easy and not very time-consuming for me to have set a few pickets with a rope to protect some steep snow spots that had really bad run-out and with no chance of arresting a slip. 8.) Even if you have a bomb-proof weather forecast for your whole trip and a few days beyond it (sunny and warm) you need to take that forecast with a grain of salt. This is the middle of the North Cascades and the forecast is really only good for about 2-3 days. Doing steep traverses on rock, dirt, and snow with large packs on is hard enough in dry conditions but when it rains it gets much, much more spicy. We came out a day early because we saw clouds forming to the west and sure enough the rain hit the next morning (Monday). On my previous PT trip of 6 days there was rain and fog for the first five days and it made the trip barely tolerable comfort-wise and much less safe to walk in steep terrain. 9.) For an alternative ascent to the ridge west and above the lower Yang Yang Lake you may try the couloir that goes to climber’s left/south of the standard shoulder approach to the ridge (the couloir is clearly seen right now from the approach to Yang Yang Lakes from Spider-Formidable Col). For us the couloir was filled in with firm snow to the top of the ridge. It is steep, with the top part up to 50 degrees, and 300 feet long with poor run-out, but a climber that is comfortable on steep snow will likely feel ok on it without much, if any, protection and it would save time and energy getting onto the ridge from the lakes to head south toward LeConte. 10.) Consider protecting the vegetation around the lakes on this traverse: For a first night camp site there are several options for people of regular climbing fitness depending on when you leave the Cascade Pass trailhead. The very top of Cache Col is a possibility and there are excellent solid-rock ledges at the base of the Middle Cascade Glacier about 1.5 hours hike south of Kool-Aid Lake. Although Yang Yang Lakes is a wonderful spot to camp on night #2 you could instead camp on the ridge above it just north of LeConte and have less biting bugs as a result. The col where you would descend from the LeConte Glacier to the South Cascade glacier would be an amazing camp site on night 2 or 3 (also on solid rock). 11.) Bring less fuel and food! I keep overestimating the amount of snow my team will need to melt for water (none on this trip and only one day of snow melting on the previous six-day trip in early August 2002). Two Jetboil canister stoves with 3 large gas canisters would have been large enough for our group of 7 on this 4 night trip. 12.) Make a team-gear carrying plan that everyone agrees to before the trip. Nobody really wants to carry the ropes, pickets, rappel cord, first aid supplies, tents, cooking gear, water filter, etc. but if there is a plan on how to share before the trip then it is one less thing to spend time/energy addressing during the trip. 13.) Put a full-sized spare tire in the car trunk for this trip. It would not be fun to get a flat when you are twenty miles up the Cascade River Rd at 8:00 pm and want to get home faster than a factory spare tire allows for. 14.) Bring folding lawn chairs to sit on at the trailhead after the climb. It would be so much more civilized than sitting on the gravel and leaning back against someone’s car while guzzling beer and taking off shoes. 15.) Get back to the trailhead early enough so that you can make it to a real restaurant that is still open and willing to serve you a big greasy bacon mushroom swiss burger with yam fries and a pint of goodness after having only gorp, dried fruit and meat, and PBJ's to eat for days. 16.) Get the pack down to sub-40 lbs for a 6-day PT trip. It can be done. 17.) Ascending from the Cascade Pass trailhead to Kool-Aid Lake took 4 hours. From Kool-Aid Lake to Yang-Yang Lakes took 6 hours. Returning from Yang Yang Lakes to Cascade Pass trailhead with multiple long crampon-snack breaks took 11 hours. 18.) Spend less time planning for the trip and writing about the trip afterwards and more time climbing. chipmunk at Cascade Pass eating a thumb Looking south from Spider-Formidable col (Yang Yang Lakes can be seen) looking south from Cache Col towards Kool Aid Lake and Red Ledges LeConte Glacier up close (few crevassess, easy traveling) Looking south to Yang Yang Lakes, LeConte Mtn, Sentinel Mtn, and Old Guard Mtn wi a rare, albino, hairless Bigfoot scared the crap out of us and even he would not eat the Gorp in the backpack

Steph and Don are uninjured and safely down and in contact with North Cascades NP regarding Jason. Steve ("Trent" on CascadeClimbers) is injured and recovering in the hopital and will be fine (no head or spinal injuries). Jason is still stuck in the same place high on Mt. Terror and let's hope for him.

wayne1112~ Yes, Steph and Don came out last night.

Thanks, Heinrich/Jason. Your CascadeClimbers note worked and the NCNP was contacted and Jason's girlfriend has been updated. I was told that she has contacted Jason's family. Let's hope the weather improves now for safe return asap. Tonight is his second night out high on the route.

Reply to Woodchips regarding the east ridge of Cinderella: I climbed halfway up the ridge for several hours and bailed down the gulley to the south of the ridge that runs half the total vertical distance of the ridge (easy and obvious bail point). I did not find the description in the Becky guide to be very accurate regarding the number of pitches. It's much longer if pitched out the entire distance. We did it with a 60 meter rope and pitched out each length at about 35-50m due to rope drag (ridge climbing on the T.S. rock results in tons of drag). Our team was not really capable of doing running belays. I would love to go back and climb with a faster climbing buddy and do mostly running belays with about 30m rope between us. The walk off from the summit to the west and then south to the lake is easy (I did it the day before on the approach day). We camped at that lake named...I forget. Have fun and go do it! the rock is pretty good overall but not quite as good as the west ridge of the N. Twin. But, you'll have it to yourself even on the busiest weekend of the year.

joshk~ By the way, you should see KK's rack when he climbs a route that challenges him - it is HUGE!

joshk~ The large rack was needed because the pitches were simul-climbed several hundred feet at a time. Having 12 slings for several hundred feet of terrain does not seem excessive to me. A rack with lots of pieces to choose from to place 12 pieces exactly when/where desired so that one can climb effiently to summit asap seems like a better way to go on an technically moderate climbing route (I call 5.7+ moderate for alpine climbing if leading level is mid 5.10 at the crags). I've wasted incredible amounts of time on routes because I could not find a piece left on my rack to protect a certain 20-foot schetchy section (hence my original comment about 40 foot falls being the same regardless of climbing ability). I'm not trying to change anyone's climbing styles, to each his own. But those who I climb with do tend to place lots of good pro and do tend to also bring an large rack. I can't think of a climb I've done where having a few unused pieces of gear at the end of a pitch/day really bothered me much. Some of us actually like placing gear that that is part of the cool experience of multipitch climbs. This has been fun, but I'm done. It's time to go climb at Mt. Erie on another wonderful day. Has everyone forgotten about the crappy long spring yet? Thanks again for the report KK.

Jeez, Kev, nice first trip report on cc's.com! It has it all: good beta, opinion, encourages others to climb the route, and it inspired lively debate and armchair attacks on your climbing style and capability by people who don't know you. Awesome! There was a weird comment from someone about why would a 5.10+ climber need so much protection? Hopefully that comment was done in jest or under the influence of lots of booze. A 40 foot fall due to a broken hold is the same for a 5.14 climber as it is for a 5.6 climber I think that using "spicy" IS spicy, and once, twice, or 3 times is just right. By the way everyone, Kev is great to climb with and protects routes great without wasting pieces, so I don't doubt they wanted and needed the whole rack to climb the route the way they did (mostly simulclimbing). It's not like you have to worry about an extra pound of gear for an approach like this one. They summitted at 10:30 am, so it seems like the rack they chose worked out about perfect for them to move efficiently and safely.

Hey cfire: Your footsteps looked like splash zones on the snow and were only about 2 inches deep by the time we saw them above the north face. You saw us at the Beer Shrine? Where were you seated? Go back and climb it when the snow is hard!

I knew someone would ask that. I don't ski things that take two tools to ascend. That's for really good skiers, not our party. The White Salmon was so good to ski that I'll never recommend the Sulfide approach/descent to anyone again (climber or skier).

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - North Face Date: 5/31/2008 Trip Report: Mt. Shuksan – North Face Steve Trent (“Trent”), Scott Bingen and I climbed this route on Friday, May 31, 2008. We really got lucky on the conditions for this wonderful, challenging route. The weather was beautiful! It’s a route worth building up to in your North Cascades alpine climbing dream list. The north face is long, steep, and committing; however the rest of the climbing and descending for the day is regular snow, glacier, and gully crossing stuff. Lot’s of trip reports can be found on the internet and lots have been written up in climbing route books, so it’s not necessary to go into the route details We left the car at 1:50 am and skied from the White Salmon (lower) ski lodge to the base of chair 8 and then put the skis on our packs for the traverse through the forest. Three hours of hiking and skiing later and were at the base of the north face. About half of this part of the ascent was done on skis. There is a huge avalanche debris pile less than two weeks old that we skirted below on the way to the col below the north face. The north face was mostly firm snow and there was no avalanche or slide activity the entire time we were on it. The north face took us about 4 hours, but took Steve and Scott about 3. After summiting we descended on skis from the base of the summit pyramid at 8600’ across the Sulphide Glacier, and then down the White Salmon Glacier and lower snow fields to 3600’ on excellent corn snow. I was a little sketched-out and tired after about half the north face part of the climb. Feeling less stable on crampon front points than them, I kicked deep, bomber foot buckets into their shallow marks all the way up the route. This took much more time and energy for me. I was physically spent and just thought about hanging in there, made sure I religiously kept 3 points of contact with terra-firma, and went at the pace I hoped I could keep up without cramping or collapsing. For this route you need to expect to solo pretty much the whole thing to save time and energy as well as to stay safe (there may be snow/ice that releases far above you that can windshield-wiper you off the face quickly). I cannot imagine spending more time than we did on the route to belay multiple pitches. The north face is about 2500 feet of 40-60 degree snow/ice climbing, but the majority of the route is about 50 degrees. There is no way to arrest your fall with your ice axe once on the face. The name of the game is to hold on to your tools, keep your energy up, and be efficient! The standard summit route on the south face of the upper pyramid (top 600’ of the peak) spooked me a bit also. The snow was thin and rotten from recent rain and sun melt. Steve belayed me a couple of pitches and on the descent I rappelled the top 400’. We made the summit at 1:00 pm and had the mountain to ourselves with the exception of a team of two that had crossed the Sulfide Glacier and were about an hour behind us. Skiing down 5000 vertical feet on the Sulfide Glacier, White Salmon Glacier, and lower snowfields after such a great climb was icing on the peak. We skied corn snow and had no major problems all the way down to 3600 feet where the traverse back to the lower lodge begins. Sure, we could have saved a few pounds and had better climbing boots for the route if we did not bring ski gear, but the small amount of extra effort was worth it ten-times-over to ski down. We were back at the car drinking beer at 5:40 pm. Gear notes: Day packs, skis, crampons, two ice tools (one standard axe would be ok); one 40 meter rope used on the summit pyramid for two pitches up and 3 raps down; brought 4 liters of water each and needed 5 for the day (we found a water drip on the summit pyramid); lots of easy to consume snacks like Gu and energy bars; one picket each, crevasse rescue gear, headlamps; emergency bivy gear Recommendations: Choose good, capable, fun companions because you may need to depend on their good humor, ability to suffer, and desire to keep going up; brings skis and do it in a day or else go overnight with very light gear and camp at the col next to the north face; start the north face climbing at daybreak with at least 6 servings of food and two litters drink that you can access without removing your pack (we found a ledge about 1/3 the way up to take a break, but don’t expect this); be a comfortable and efficient steep-snow/ice climber before embarking on this adventure; take lots of photos; expect the trip to take longer than you think it should! Trent posted a few of the photos and I'll try to figure out how to post some also ~Wade